Not exactly chump change, but might I suggest that if you're going to go off on one you might look less of a tw@t if you have some idea what you're talking about. Personally, I hope any final report will disclose where he buys those God-awful gold shell-suits.

"If you ask me, this country could use a little less motivation. The people who are motivated are the ones causing all the trouble. Stock swindlers, serial killers, child molesters, Christian conservatives... these people are highly motivated." -George Carlin

"If some **** can **** something up, that **** will pick the worst possible time to ******* **** it up cause that ****'s a ****." -Malcolm Tucker

Not exactly chump change, but might I suggest that if you're going to go off on one you might look less of a tw@t if you have some idea what you're talking about. Personally, I hope any final report will disclose where he buys those God-awful gold shell-suits.

LE

I would like an enquiry into why I never got my life long wish fixed by Jimmy.

those who, at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger, and finally passed out of sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice, giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom... let those that come after see to it that their names are not forgotten.

Not exactly chump change, but might I suggest that if you're going to go off on one you might look less of a tw@t if you have some idea what you're talking about. Personally, I hope any final report will disclose where he buys those God-awful gold shell-suits.

Yet, according to the Torygraph, Tessa Jowell went on TV and mentions the figure of Â£400million. Maybe the difference is the cost of Sir Jimmy's cigars and jewelry?

"If you ask me, this country could use a little less motivation. The people who are motivated are the ones causing all the trouble. Stock swindlers, serial killers, child molesters, Christian conservatives... these people are highly motivated." -George Carlin

"If some **** can **** something up, that **** will pick the worst possible time to ******* **** it up cause that ****'s a ****." -Malcolm Tucker

Failings occurred, and an inquiry was conducted at the time. This is a superfluous exercise at a huge cost to go over ground already covered.

No doubt, a 1600 page report will be produced in due course, with the majority being a "historical narrative" and a "cut and paste" exercise of witness accounts. Recommendations will be made, which is absolutely pointless, as this set of circumstances and personalities is unique, and this exact situation will not be replicated in the future anyway. A damn expensive history project!!!!!!

Edited for carp spellig!!!!

In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the authority of the sovereign. Secondly, a just cause. Thirdly, a rightful intention. -Saint Thomas Aquinas

LE

As a witness, I've kept a better than average Joe's watch on this Inquiry. The depth they went into was almost unimagineable. We (military witneeses) had excellent representation and that must have cost a bomb.
Pity of it all is that nothing will change. The scope will be such that all sides will be able to pick out bits that support their cause and will rubbish anything contra.

Old-Salt

It would have been cheaper just to give the Paras a couple of hundred rounds each & let them work their way through Londonderry, providing of course, that they dealt with that ginger tosser NI Education Minister Martin McGuinness as they went.

I used to be on the side of Righteousness, but then I wised up & decided that genocide is the only way to resolve any conflict.

RIP

It would have been cheaper just to give the Paras a couple of hundred rounds each & let them work their way through Londonderry, providing of course, that they dealt with that ginger tosser NI Education Minister Martin McGuinness as they went.

I used to be on the side of Righteousness, but then I wised up & decided that genocide is the only way to resolve any conflict.

He resigned from what I gather. When he visited the Bangor offices,the locals refused calls to remove U.J's & loyalist flags from the streets so he'd feel 'welcome'. He did'nt get much responce from the staff either!

Old-Salt

It would have been cheaper just to give the Paras a couple of hundred rounds each & let them work their way through Londonderry, providing of course, that they dealt with that ginger tosser NI Education Minister Martin McGuinness as they went.

I used to be on the side of Righteousness, but then I wised up & decided that genocide is the only way to resolve any conflict.

He resigned from what I gather. When he visited the Bangor offices,the locals refused calls to remove U.J's & loyalist flags from the streets so he'd feel 'welcome'. He did'nt get much responce from the staff either!

Aye, Lisburn Council is currently having a few problems, apart from the gays insisting on being married in the Civic Centre.

Firstly, the single wholely unpopular Sinn Fein Councillor is moaning because Lisburn Borough Council fly the Union Flag more often than he would like.

Secondly, Lisburn Borough Council would like to erect a monument to honour all the UDR blokes who died needlessly while El Knobber Sinn Fein C^nt was undergoing indoctrination at Queen's University. Of course, he is also moaning about that.

Given that we live in a democratic society, surely if all the Lisburn Councillors vote to give him a kicking then it should be allowed by law.

LE

But surely no price is too high for Tony to soft-soap and buy-off the real murderers in the Irish question....Gerry, Martin and the boys. What chance an objective report though? If the Paras are exonerated, there will be a backlash and a return to violence (the breakaway groups referred to in another thread are just waiting for a 'trigger' so they can get back to the good old days) - my money is on blaming the army and then doling out yet more armfuls of taxpayers cash in 'compensation' for the hurt and suffering.

LE

It would have been cheaper to pay compensation and get tony to aplogise.Have a show trial I'm sure for a suitably large payoff and new id relocation to a foriegn climate could have got some suitble old squaddies to play along.
The answer was a forgone conclusion whatever the facts .Bogsiders innocent.Paras evil.

What annoys me is any other corrupt 3rd world country can orgnise a show trial for a couple of quid .Our government pisses away Â£147 million on something which is not going to change anything .
Â£ 20 million quid could have had the result the government warrented relatives paid off .Paras convicted then pardoned due to good friday and mysteriously relocated due to ongoing secruity issuses.Would have suggested
black mark on paras colours but they would only take it as a badge of honour .probably put a statue up comerating the massacre something like mel gibson being bayoneted / crucifed by paras .

War Hero

The Bloody Sunday was part of the offer made to SF/PIRA to play ball in the peace process.

Agree with most of the comments to date. My view that with many more Â£ to be spent and many more months passed the end result will be a fairly non-specific blaming of the Army, but as we all know with the passing of time and no real particpation from PIRA (for whom this is not an exercise in truth and reconcilation but a continuance of the war by other means) the detail will be thin and be insufficient for any criminal action.

End result, SF/PIRA get their enquiry, 1 PARA gets the blame for something that happened 40 years ago, HMG gets the peace process, no-one gets prosecuted and after all the time and money, SF/PIRA (or the usual crew of human rights lawyers) will not be able to cry foul.

LE

The Sinn Fein Councillor in Lisburn is a chap called Paul Butler who represents those bits of south-west Belfast such as Poleglass, Lenadoon etc that were lumped into Lisburn Councils area in order for it to obtain city status. The latest boundary commission proposals will probably reverse this. I'm not sure when they will come into effect.

Butlers whining about the Union Flag at the Council offices is all part of his efforts to get himself some publicity and noticed for something. It's true, he is their only Councillor in Lisburn. It only seems to be DUP controlled councils such as Lisburn that Sinn Fein seem to have a problem with. Belfast City Council has a much larger number of Sinn Fein Councillors and also flys a Union Flag over City Hall, but there doesn't seem to be so much of a fuss about that. One likely reason is that Sinn Fein will use any chance they can seize to demonise the DUP and institutions under its control.

I saw a copy of The Andersonstown News recently. Fair enough, it did cover what you'd expect in terms of local news stories, though I was amazed by just how bigoted and in places secterian it remains. Parts of this paper (and its sister publication The North Belfast News) could be swapped with pages from An Phoblacht.

The Saville Inquiry is a scandal, the money spent on it could have prevented every single governement spending cut (Belfast Education and Library Board for one) across NI and then some (such as paying for the rebuild of the west link). The only cold crumb of comfort from it was that McGuinness was finally compelled to put up his hand and admit to what we all knew about his PIRA past. Whatever the outcome of this is, I can't see it changing anything one iota. There is no chance (fingers crossed) of 50 and 60-something ex Para's being hauled into the dock. At best the whole thing has served as a rather expensive release valve for the families of those who died and the wider Bogside community.

The next thing to watch is the the battle of wills over what is to be done with the site of the old HMP Maze. Build a sports stadium etc, why not? - I'm all in favour of that. The thing that worries me has been widely reported in the NI & RoI papers over the last couple of weeks. Sinn Fein have submitted a proposal for a Â£10 million (of who's money I don't know) "Conflict resolution and truth centre", or something similar to be built on the site. Apparently they want to offer guided tours, led by former prisoners, to paying visitors. Sinn Fein were keen to stress that they would seek to ensure that the experiences of Loyalist prisoners and Prison Guards were also included. This worries me. Hopefully they will be F**ked off sharpish, but its still one to watch.

"Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life". (Cecil Rhodes, 1902).